Comments on the articles dealing with individual performance criteria that are included in this special issue of Military Psychology

Individual performance criterion measurement is central to effective personnel management in the military services, and to all other organizations as well. The articles in this special issue summarize the state of the art in all major phases of performance criterion development and assessment. The overall record, while it varies in terms of current progress across the major parts, is admirable. What's next is an equally thorough examination of the utility of validity.

Advancing the Practice of Contemporary Military Performance Psychology:A Full-Spectrum Approach to Psychological Health and Readiness

The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to emphasize operational readiness, lethality, and optimal performance. Performance psychology is a critical aspect of and central dimension to human performance optimization in support of Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) and Total Force Fitness (TFF). The delivery of performance psychology services must continue to evolve to maximize its potential for enhancing combat performance and supporting psychological readiness in warfighters across all branches of service. The authors (1) provide a brief history of the evolution of military psychology; (2) explore how performance psychology complements and broadens approaches to support warfighter health and readiness; and (3) present a set of strategies to advance performance psychology services toward an aspirational model. Such strategies will more effectively promote best practices to better target operational performance, complement existing health and medical service delivery, and encompass a systems approach to sustainable training. Moreover, these strategies aim to increase return on investment of psychological readiness efforts for warfighters across all branches of service.

Experience does not equal expertise in recognizing infrequent incoming gunfire: neural markers for experience and task expertise at peak behavioral performance

For a soldier, decisions to use force can happen rapidly and sometimes lead to undesired consequences. In many of these situations, there is a rapid assessment by the shooter that recognizes a threat and responds to it with return fire. But the neural processes underlying these rapid decisions are largely unknown, especially amongst those with extensive weapons experience and expertise. In this paper, we investigate differences in weapons experts and non-experts during an incoming gunfire detection task. Specifically, we analyzed the electroencephalography (EEG) of eleven expert marksmen/soldiers and eleven non-experts while they listened to an audio scene consisting of a sequence of incoming and non-incoming gunfire events. Subjects were tasked with identifying each event as quickly as possible and committing their choice via a motor response. Contrary to our hypothesis, experts did not have significantly better behavioral performance or faster response time than novices. Rather, novices indicated trends of better behavioral performance than experts. These group differences were more dramatic in the EEG correlates of incoming gunfire detection. Using machine learning, we found condition-discriminating EEG activity among novices showing greater magnitude and covering longer periods than those found in experts. We also compared group-level source reconstruction on the maximum discriminating neural correlates and found that each group uses different neural structures to perform the task. From condition-discriminating EEG and source localization, we found that experts perceive more categorical overlap between incoming and non-incoming gunfire. Consequently, the experts did not perform as well behaviorally as the novices. We explain these unexpected group differences as a consequence of experience with gunfire not being equivalent to expertise in recognizing incoming gunfire.

Victims of military sexual trauma--you see them, too

Sexual assault while serving in the military is not uncommon, and the effects linger long after veterans are home--and seeing civilian physicians like you.

[Urgency of an issue of promptness of making decision for evacuation of aircraft]

The goal of the given research was actualization of an issue of promptness of making decision for evacuation of aircraft by the pilot as a method of improvement of the effectiveness of the air staff saving. The aims were review of trends in safety benefits of the air staff in case of evacuation of modern aircrafts and grounding of decision-problem of catapulting. The authors said about importance of training, medical-psychological preparation and entitlement of the air staff to flights. The need for exercise of ability and readiness for timely making decision for evacuation of aircraft steadily with piloting learned behavior is demonstrated. The authors concluded that if pilot has ill health, any emotional disturbance, negative social dominance before the flight, specialists should pay attention to it, because these factors can lead to violation of stability of psychical processes at the supreme moment and bring incorrect actions on.

[Psychophysiological peculiarities of occupational suitability forecasting among signalmen]

Among military signalmen on the initial stage of radiotelegraphist's professional activity the group of the persons (34,3%) which are essentially characterized by worse psychophysiological parameters of central nervous system functioning by visual and acoustical analyzers has been selected. The most informative indicator (functional mobility of nervous processes on the acoustical analyzer) for differentiation of these subgroups has been offered. There is established, that the subgroup of the servicemen with the worse parameters of functional organization of organism on the informative and energy levels can be related to "risk" group. The decisive rules have been developed which allow classifying investigated servicemen on "risk" group and group that is suitable for radiotelegraphist's activity.

[Medical and psychological prediction of professional readiness of graduates of military school]

The authors propose a method for assessing the professional readiness of graduates of military educational institution, taking into account academic performance, the results of sociometric surveys, data on the professional fitness and health. The high efficiency of the developed method for predicting successful adaptation of graduates to serve in the armed forces is showed.

[Methodology of medical and psychological analysis of the causes of the pilot's errors]

On the basis of the terms of the concept of "personal factors" the author proposes the methodology for medical and psychological analysis of the causes of the pilots' errors. We consider the basic qualities of the pilot: the needs and motivations, professional readiness for flight, health status and functional capacities, professionally important qualities. The author gives the characteristics of the components of the aviation system, which create prerequisites for the occurrence of the pilots' errors.

[Peculiarities of research of flying thinking]

New approach to the research of flying thinking is offered. This approach is based on principals of stage-by-stage approach (research of the reflection of every parameter of flight, than its aggregate in figured and conceptual framework), on the usage of the methods of registration of inner and external characteristics of activity of the air staff with the priority of research of content area and mechanisms of flying thinking, typology of content area and mechanisms of flying thinking. This approach is also based on the effectiveness of reflection by means of correlation of the detected figured and conceptual framework with time and correctness of decisions of test flight tasks and with different psychophysiological characteristics.

[Psychophysiological factors of maintaining mental health in individuals with extreme professions]

The research aims to establish psychophysiological factors of maintaining health in individuals, in whose professional activities on the substantial level there is an extreme component. During the research it was established that the effective work of regulatory mechanisms contributes to the formation of the mental health, which stability is not a factor contributing to the restoration of psychophysiological resources.

Differential brain activation to angry faces by elite warfighters: neural processing evidence for enhanced threat detection

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the neural basis of elite performers and their optimal performance in extreme environments. The purpose of this study was to examine brain processing differences between elite warfighters and comparison subjects in brain structures that are important for emotion processing and interoception.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Navy Sea, Air, and Land Forces (SEALs) while off duty (n = 11) were compared with n = 23 healthy male volunteers while performing a simple emotion face-processing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Irrespective of the target emotion, elite warfighters relative to comparison subjects showed relatively greater right-sided insula, but attenuated left-sided insula, activation. Navy SEALs showed selectively greater activation to angry target faces relative to fearful or happy target faces bilaterally in the insula. This was not accounted for by contrasting positive versus negative emotions. Finally, these individuals also showed slower response latencies to fearful and happy target faces than did comparison subjects.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE

These findings support the hypothesis that elite warfighters deploy greater processing resources toward potential threat-related facial expressions and reduced processing resources to non-threat-related facial expressions. Moreover, rather than expending more effort in general, elite warfighters show more focused neural and performance tuning. In other words, greater neural processing resources are directed toward threat stimuli and processing resources are conserved when facing a nonthreat stimulus situation.

[Regularity of psychophysiological adaptation to military-professional activity among staff of Northern Fleet]

There were examined regularities of psycho-physiological adaptation of different categories of military-navy specialists, were detected periods of maximum decrease of compensation abilities among sailor-men and staff reserve of Naval Fleet from students. Were educed psycho-physiological strategies of adaptation of military-navy specialists in dependence of reference level of adaptation capabilities. Was detected the influence on the process of psycho-physiological adaptation to service activity of young specialists of a complex of psychological and social factors. Was educed the influence of ulterior motive on success of psycho-physiological adaptation to new conditions of environment. Was elaborated a complex of measures on optimization of accompaniment of adaptation of military-navy specialists and was given financial evaluation of it's implementation.

Helping military children cope with parental deployment: role of attachment theory and recommendations for mental health clinicians and counselors

Military deployment of a parent carries with it a number of stresses for children, all centering around uncertainty, instability and unpredictability. This article conceptualizes military deployment and relocation stress in the context of attachment theory, and describes the types of adverse outcomes that can occur as the result of impaired attachment. It then presents a set of practical recommendations for mental health clinicians and counselors for helping children and families cope productively and negotiate the developmental hurdles associated with maintaining healthy attachment and family stability in the face of military deployment.

[Peculiarities of psychophysiological status of flying staff of fighter aircraft of land basing]

It was investigated the influence of professional activity on psychophysiological peculiarities of fighter pilot of different types of aircraft of land basing and afloat aircraft. As a result of investigation, it was determined that on base of social parameters they are equal. Airmen of the aviation of land basing have a similar personality profile, but different types of interpersonal relations. Station of depletion among airmen of the aviation of land basing was absent. Among airmen of afloat aircraft every third had a forming stage of depletion, characterized by emotional deficit, personal suspension, psychosomatic and psychovegetative disorders.

[Traumatic stress and personal characteristics of participants in combat operations]

The article presents an analyze of influence of combat traumatic stress on personal characteristics of combat-operations participant of the Afghan war. The research has shown that there are differences in personal peculiarities by veterans, having different psychological pathology. The structure of these violations is interdependent with effective crossing of consequences of psycho trauma. Pathological reactions (chronic post-traumatic stress disorder) is aligned with decrease of psychological functions, emotional disorders (uneasiness, emotional instability, tension) and personal peculiarities (noncomformity, difficultness with understanding of life, low indexes of moral and willed qualities of I-conception). For effective negotiation of consequences of post-traumatic stress it's necessary to solve problems, aligned with understanding of life (finding of purposes and feeling of control under the life) and change attitude to your self in aspect of moral and willed component.

[Psychologic stress of participants in combat actions and their subjective feelings]

Using the method of nameless interrogation, there were investigated 119 service-men, served by contract on Northern Caucasus. 76,5% of investigated persons recognized different types of distress. The most often, features of psychic ill-being were signed by persons, obtained different wounds. Among typical symptoms of acute stress reactions the most often were the evidences of "invasion" (21%), tension (13,5%), lowed attune (14,3%). It's necessary attend, that involuntary revising and high irritation with an aptitude of evidence of anger often worried participants of warfare. Tension, backward, worried, in general, the persons, not yet participated in warfare. Persons, participated in warfare for the first time,signed the psychic tension rather rare. Lowed attune were signed very rare for the persons, served in the area of contraterrorist actions for the second time and having a big battle experience. During the evaluation of comorbidity of different symptoms of stress disease were signed, that the most often with another types of symptoms are conjoined: high irritation, sense of weariness, sense of fault and lowed attune. These symptoms can serve as markers of tendency to syndrome-making and, that's why, require special attention of psychologist and psychiatrist of military unit of medical service.

Neuropsychological assessment in extreme environments

In this paper, we summarize studies that used ANAM tests to assess the effects of environmental stressors. The findings document performance changes resulting from conditions relevant to military operational medicine. These conditions included radiation exposure, toxins, high altitude, undersea conditions, Marine basic training, advanced military training, and fatigue. The results of these studies demonstrate that ANAM detects cognitive changes in extreme environments.

The ARES test system for palm OS handheld computers

The ARES (ANAM Readiness Evaluation System) is a cognitive testing system designed for operation on palm OS handheld computers i.e., Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). It provides an inexpensive and portable testing platform for field and clinical applications. ARES test batteries can be configured from a library of tests derived from the ANAM test system. ARES features include support of multiple users on a single PDA, a Microsoft Windows test battery authoring program, and a program for downloading, viewing, graphing, and archiving data. In validity tests, the same subjects were tested on identical ARES and conventional ANAM NeuroCog test batteries. Scores from the two platforms correlated highly, but absolute scores differed slightly. In reliability testing with the ARES Warrior battery, ARES scores were highly correlated in daily tests.

Military hardiness as a buffer of psychological health on return from deployment

Military hardiness, the context-specific adaptation of psychological hardiness, is explored as it relates to military occupational stressors. It was hypothesized that military hardiness would moderate the effects of deployment stressors on soldier health. In a survey study of 629 U.S. soldiers, deployment stressors, military hardiness, and psychological and physical health were assessed during a peacekeeping deployment. Health was measured again after deployment. Results of moderated regression analyses partially supported the hypotheses; military hardiness moderated the impact of deployment stressors on depression after deployment, after controlling for depression during deployment. Implications for training military hardiness and applications to other occupational settings are discussed.

Clinician to frontline soldier: A look at the roles and challenges of army clinical psychologists in Iraq

Psychologists have a long and respected history of service during wartime that dates back to World War I. From the early days of scientific personnel selection, clinical psychologists have made a number of wartime contributions. Today, Army clinical psychologists serving in Iraq are providing behavioral health services as both clinicians and prevention specialists in order to meet the psychological and emotional needs of service members abroad. They are also performing as Army officers and soldiers contributing to the success of military operations as a whole. The authors, two clinical psychologists and Army officers currently deployed to Iraq, provide a small glimpse into the clinical and personal opportunities and challenges faced by wartime Army clinical psychologists.

Homicidal violence during foreign military missions--prevention and legal issues

OBJECTIVES

The study involved Nigerian soldiers engaged in peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Yugoslavia. Using case illustrations, the study sought to describe patterns of homicidal violence among soldiers from the same country or soldiers from allied forces, and to suggest possible reasons for the attacks.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Nigeria was actively involved in peacekeeping missions in Liberia between 1990 and 1996. During this period, intentional homicidal attacks occurred among the Nigerian military personnel. Post-homicidal interviews conducted among the perpetrators were combined with evidence obtained at military courts to produce the case studies.

SUBJECTS

Six Nigerian military personnel who attacked other Nigerians or soldiers from allied forces, with homicidal intent.

RESULTS

Possible predisposing and precipitating factors for these attacks were highlighted. The possibility of recognising these factors before embarking on overseas missions was discussed, so that preventive measures could be instituted as far as possible. Finally, medico-legal implications of homicide in the military were discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

A certain degree of pre-combat selection is essential to exclude soldiers with definite severe psychopathology. A clearly defined length of duty in the mission areas and adequate communication with home could reduce maladjustment. Health personnel deployed to mission areas should be very conversant with mental health issues so that early recognition of psychological maladjustment is possible.

Verification of the change blindness phenomenon while managing critical events on a combat information display

Change blindness occurs when humans are unable to detect significant changes in objects and scenes after their attention is momentarily diverted. Because change blindness is relevant in many applied settings, the current study investigated the phenomenon in the context of tasks performed by naval command and control system personnel. Operators of such systems are often heavily loaded with concurrent visual search, situation assessment, voice communications, and control-display manipulation tasks at large, physically dispersed tactical situation displays. As the operators' attention shifts from one display to another, it creates an opportunity for changes to occur on unattended screens with potentially negative consequences. Our results show that on a display containing 8 objects of interest, considerable change blindness was demonstrated in that participants required 2 or more selections to correctly identify a changed object on nearly 1/3 of the test trials. Further, operator performance on 15% of the trials was equivalent to randomly guessing with replacement after making 3 incorrect selections. This research underscores the need for developing effective countermeasures to the change blindness phenomenon. Actual or potential uses of this research include interface design of computer workstations for military, nuclear power industry, air traffic control, crisis response center, and hospital emergency room applications.

Stress reactions among Swedish peacekeeping soldiers serving in Bosnia: a longitudinal study

Assessments of mental health (GHQ-28) were performed on a Swedish battalion serving in Bosnia at 4 times: before deployment, immediately after deployment, 6 months after deployment, and 1 year after deployment. Complete responses were obtained from 316 participants (61% response rate). No significant change of mental health over time was noted. Individuals having experienced traumatic events in Bosnia, as well as stressful life events postdeployment, reported the poorest mental health. Logistic regression analysis showed that postdeployment stressors made the strongest contribution to registering a poor mental health score after one year.

[Psychological basis for self-regulation of behavior in sailors drafted into military service]

Valuable-and-semantic spheres of Navy servicemen called-up for military service were investigated. For the servicemen with "psychical discomfort" the behavior "disadaptation" strategy is characteristic: the unrealistic orientation towards the freedom and material security; the problem of difficult choice between the interest in unofficial contact and the necessity to defer to rank; the "internal vacuum" state connected with little value of cognitive orientations and their relative accessibility, and on the contrary, the "internal conflict" state conditioned by the inaccessibility of vital and social values. The most of investigated persons are not oriented towards the highest levels of behavior self-regulation that are connected with the search for sense and choice freedom. They are characterized by the regulation lowest levels connected with stereotype and comfort in observing the social standards (the group of "relative" psychical comfort) or by the non-adequate ways of behavior self-regulation that aggravate the disadaptation, morbidity and person's deformation (the group of "psychical discomfort").

Personality comparison of airline pilot incumbents, applicants, and the general population norms on the 16PF

Personality comparisons using Cattell's 16PF were made between 137 pilot incumbents, 81 pilot applicants, and the general population norms. No significant differences were found between the scores on the personality factors for the Pilot Incumbents and the Pilot Applicants. Further, the incumbents and applicants who had previous military training versus those who did not had highly similar personalities. However, on nearly every personality factor a significant difference was found between the general population norms and the sample of Pilot Incumbents and Applicants. The Pilot Incumbent/Applicant group scored significantly more intelligent, emotionally stable, and mature in comparison to the general population norms. We believe that it is the high-risk nature of this occupation that leads applicants, wishing to pursue this field, to assess very carefully their own person-job fit and self-select themselves, thus ultimately producing this very distinct "pilot personality profile" described in 1995 by Bartram.

[Psychological risk factors in development of cardiovascular diseases in young military personnel]

The results of investigation using the routine examinations and psychological methods have revealed the psychological risk factors of development of cardiovascular diseases in the healthy young servicemen. It was established that the disorders in formation of psychological adaptation mechanisms (P < or = 0.05) should be considered as such risk factors. To decrease the probability of cardiovascular pathology in servicement it is necessary to use the methods of psychological correction and psychotherapy.

Attitudes towards malingering: a study among general practitioners and mental health officers in the military

OBJECTIVE

The authors assessed the attitudes of military physicians and mental health officers regarding the phenomenon of malingering.

METHOD

Questionnaires on attitudes regarding malingering and possible cues indicative of deception were sent to 115 general practitioners (GPs) and mental health officers (MHOs) in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

RESULTS

91 responses were received--a response rate of 80%. All the respondents claimed that they had seen cases of malingering. They estimated that every fourth soldier is malingering. GPs claimed that they had seen more cases of malingering as compared to MHOs. Those who estimated that malingering is very frequent in the military, also had higher estimates of malingering in their civil work. The most indicative clues of malingering among soldiers were inconsistency, flamboyant complaints, exaggeration of symptoms and accentuation of secondary gain.

CONCLUSIONS

Among IDF GPs and MHOs, there currently appears to be moderate consensus regarding the frequency of malingering and its characteristic signs. The study provides further support to the notion that malingering is an important clinical phenomenon. We believe that the issue merits further research and scrutiny.

Psychiatric medevacs during a 6-month aircraft carrier battle group deployment to the Persian Gulf: a Navy Force Health Protection preliminary report

When a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier battle group deploys overseas, the aircraft carrier's medical department is responsible for the medical needs of over 12,000 personnel with their indigenous developmental, stress, family, alcohol, drug, and interpersonal and intrapersonal relationship difficulties. This article reviews the effectiveness of having a U.S. Navy clinical psychologist and a psychiatric technician onboard the USS Carl Vinson, the flag ship of Vinson's battle group, during this battle group's 1998/1999 Persian Gulf deployment (i.e., Western Pacific Deployment). Importantly, these two individuals reported to the USS Vinson as permanent members of the ship's company. The clinical psychologist logged 448 individual outpatient-care consults and 79 individual consults with sailors who had a history of overusing or abusing alcohol. Additionally, nine sailors with acute disabling psychiatric diagnoses were hospitalized on the ship's medical ward, and four sailors were medically evacuated (medevaced), by fixed wing aircraft, from USS Vinson to a Navy Hospital in the United States for definitive evaluation, treatment, and disposition. These four medevacs were less than the number of medevacs from two previous Aircraft Carrier Battle Group Persian Gulf deployments. Importantly, these two previous WESTPAC deployments were made without having a clinical psychologist as a full-time member of the respective aircraft carrier's medical department. Providing clinical psychology/mental health services at the "tip of the spear" is an effective, beneficial, and cost-saving landmark improvement in providing quality medical care to the fleet.

Psychological consequences of military operations in low-level radiation environments

Military operations have produced neuropsychiatric (NP) casualties throughout history. The same is true for radiation accidents. Although we have not carried out military operations in nuclear environments, related experience suggests that operations performed under low-level radiation conditions could serve to compound the factors that are known to produce NP casualties. Historically, military NP casualty rates have varied widely depending on a complex array of factors, ranging from the actual conditions of the operation and experiences of the soldiers to the perception of the conflict by both the soldiers and the people back home. History has also shown that lack of preparation contributes to NP casualties. The number and severity of NP casualties can be minimized by ensuring that the equipment, training, and leadership are in place to instill in our soldiers the confidence that they can cope with the types of threats that are part of modern-day missions.

Levels of anxiety and hostility in South African Navy divers

This study aimed to describe the levels of anxiety and hostility in a group of 45 SA Navy divers, by analysing their scores on an Anxiety Scale and Hostility and Directed Hostility Questionnaire. Results indicate that divers experience average anxiety compared with the norm groups. They have a higher urge for acting out their hostility, and are more critical of others than the norm group. Their overall hostility scores are higher than that of the general population. To determine if this differs from other naval personnel, the diver group was compared to a sample of 40 general navy sailors and 20 sport divers. The navy divers' scores displayed a higher urge to act out than the general navy, which in turn scored higher than the sport divers. Both the navy divers and general navy groups had higher total hostility scores than the civilian divers. It is concluded that the results are contextually appropriate, but not meaningful for selection of navy divers.

Psychological attributes of South African Navy Underwater Sabotage Device Disposal operators

The first of two studies described here aimed to determine the extent to which psychological instruments could be used to describe the psychological profile of Underwater Sabotage Device Disposal (USDD) operators in the South African Navy. The Advanced Progressive Matrices, 16-Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), Self-Directed Search Questionnaire, and Rey Complex Figure Test were used. In this study, five 16PF factors appeared to be most descriptive of the sample. They were adventurous, assertive, self-assured, emotionally stable, and tough minded. These factors appeared appropriate when discussed from an environmental demand perspective. Occupational interests were realistic and social, and operators scored high on the Complex Figure Test. The second study aimed to determine the extent to which the 16PF could differentiate between USDD operators and other clearance divers. Two factors showed a significant difference between the two groups. The USDD operators were more adventurous and more assertive, which also appeared appropriate when discussed from an environmental demand perspective.

Army nurse readiness instrument: psychometric evaluation and field administration

The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate the psychometric properties of an instrument to estimate the level of individual readiness among U.S. Army nurses. This study constitutes phase II of congressionally sponsored research to establish the degree to which Army nurses are prepared for the expectations of deployment. An expert panel established the validity of the initial readiness questionnaire. Changes were then incorporated into the first Readiness Estimate and Deployability Index (READI) questionnaire. Internal consistency and test-retest techniques assessed multiple reliabilities from pilot administrations. The READI was refined based on the results. Analysis of field administrations of the revised READI to three separate groups of nurses replicated earlier reliability results. Principle component analyses appear to support the hypothesized dimensional structure underlying questionnaire attitude items. The READI produced psychometrically stable ratings and results with great utility for the Army and potential adaptation for other military services.

A preliminary evaluation of causal models of male and female acquisition of pilot skills

Based on a previous study, a causal model of acquisition of pilot job knowledge and flying skills was tested on separate samples of male and female students. Causal model parameters were estimated separately for each sample and, due to the small sample size for women, no between-groups statistical tests were conducted. The results are viewed as tentative because of the small sample of female students; however, the path coefficient parameter estimates are still useful. The model showed a direct influence of general cognitive ability (g) on the acquisition of job knowledge and an indirect influence on the acquisition of flying skills. The direct and indirect influence of cognitive ability on flying skills was a little stronger for women than for men. Additionally, the path between prior job knowledge (JKp) and flying performance was somewhat stronger for women than for men. Consistent with previous findings, the influence of early flying skills on later flying skills was very strong. No argument for a sex-separated training syllabus is supported.

Staying the course in stormy seas: establishing a central Critical Incident Stress Management team in the Navy Marine Corps environment

Crisis response teams are becoming a standard operating procedure for most United States military organizations and for many military organizations outside the U.S. This paper describes the establishment of one specific Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team designed to provide psychological support during crisis, disasters, traumas, and other critical incidents that may be encountered in a Navy Marine Corps environment.